Portrait Photographers White Lake MI

This page provides relevant content and local businesses that can help with your search for information on Portrait Photographers. You will find informative articles about Portrait Photographers, including "Give The Perfect Portrait". Below you will also find local businesses that may provide the products or services you are looking for. Please scroll down to find the local resources in White Lake, MI that can help answer your questions about Portrait Photographers.

Give The Perfect Portrait

Give The Perfect Portrait—02/01/10

Make this Valentine’s Day extra special with a photo

By William Sawalich

A portrait of you and your significant other makes a wonderful Valentine’s Day gift. Just don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s the only gift you need to give; chocolates and flowers are always a good idea. It’s a little tricky to photograph yourself, but not nearly as impossible as you might think—especially if you follow these five tips.

1. Depending on where you live, a self-portrait this time of year may mean shooting indoors to avoid foul weather. If you can shoot outside, pick open shade or a spot where you’re not staring directly toward the sun. But for the majority who will be working inside, use window light or set up a flash to provide the illumination. Choose a location with a simple background that won’t be too distracting, and preferably pick an angle that allows enough space to use a long lens and compress the scene.

2. Position your camera on a tripod and compose the shot. Determine where you and your partner will be, and set up with him or her already in place. For two people, one seated (the taller) and one standing often works well. For a romantic portrait especially, the key is to get your heads close together. This can require some creative posing, so feel free to experiment until it looks just right. Remember, there’s nothing romantic about standing shoulder to shoulder and staring at the camera.

3. Now you’re ready to make an exposure. If you’ve got a long-enough cable release or a wireless remote, you can trip the shutter subtly by folding your arms to hide the trigger, or holding the release just out of frame. If no remote is available, use your camera’s self timer. The nice thing about a release is that you don’t have to get up to reset the timer and reposition yourself after every shot. Aside from making for good exercise, this can get old really fast, as it makes it much harder to fine-tune a composition.

4. Check the exposure, but mostly the composition, after every few shots and adjust your composition and body position as necessary. Camera LCDs are great for this, but better yet, tether your camera to a computer with its display facing your position so that you can see each shot as it’s made without getting up.

5. Remember, even though there are two of you and you’re the subject as well as the photographer, it’s still a portrait. All the traditional portrait rules still apply. Use a long lens to compress the scene and minimize depth of field. An open aperture also helps with this, while soft light will be flattering for skin and help prevent one partner’s face from casting a shadow on the other. No matter how you light, it’s bound to be a photo that's very memorable since it's a gift that comes straight from the heart.

This page provides relevant content and local businesses that can help with your search for information on Nik Photo Editing Software.
You will find informative articles about Nik Photo Editing Software, including "Nik Software Announces Sharpener Pro 3.0" and "Nik Software Announces Sharpener Pro 3.0".
Below you will also find local businesses that may provide the products or services you are looking for.
Please scroll down to find the local resources in White Lake, MI that can help answer your questions about Nik Photo Editing Software.